Due to the enormous amount of TV channels available on digital cable, satellite TVs, etc., it has become a frustrating exercise for a viewer to try to scroll through all the channels at one time, because by the time a typical viewer may scroll through all the channels, a typical TV program may already be well under way, if not nearly over! Thus the viewer may be stuck in a continuous loop of flipping through channels, without being able to locate his preferred shows in time to view them.
To assist the viewer, some TV service providers (e.g., cable, satellite, etc.) offer a “favorites” function that allows the user to create his own short list of preferred channels and scroll only through those channels, instead of scrolling through all the channels. However, the given names of channels are usually replaced by numbers or a four-letter standard abbreviation, so the user simply does not recognize many channels and does not know whether he would prefer them or not. Any time the user wants to add or delete a channel, he manually updates the list.
Additionally, some users watch TV only during certain preferred time periods, and find it inconvenient to scroll through broadcast program listings for time periods when they do not watch TV.
As a result, preferred broadcast programs lists require programming, maintenance, updating, and so forth, which can be inconvenient. Due to this potential inconvenience, users may give up on the effort to create their own preferred broadcast programs list.